The invention relates generally to the field of mailing systems and, more particularly, to systems for indicating the contents of mail.
Governments have created postal services for collecting, sorting and distributing the mail. The United States Postal Service (USPS) typically charges mailers for delivering the mail. Mailers may pay the USPS for its service by purchasing a stamp, i.e., a printed adhesive label or tape, issued by the postal service at specified prices, that is affixed to all letters, parcels or other mail matter to show prepayment of postage. Another means of payment accepted by the USPS its metered by a postage meter. Postage meters are approved by the USPS and licensed to the meter user by the meter manufacturer. A postage meter is an electromechanical device that maintains, through xe2x80x9celectronic registersxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cpostal security devices,xe2x80x9d an account of all postage printed, and the remaining balance of prepaid postage; and prints postage postmarks (indicia) or provides postage postmarks (indicia) information to a printer, that are printed and accepted by the USPS as evidence of the prepayment of postage.
The USPS currently handles large volumes of normal mail, i.e., first class mail, second class mail, third class mail, etc. The USPS also handles large quantities of special service mail, i.e., priority mail, certified mail, registered mail, etc. For all of the above types of mail the physical contents of the mailing is not written on the face of the mail.
Currently the USPS does not charge the mailer additional fees for the mailing of goods that may have special treatment requirements, i.e., mail that needs to be refrigerated and/or mail that has certain pressure requirements. Examples of mail that may require special treatment requirements are radioactive materials; chemical compounds; poisons; carcinogenic materials; caustic chemicals; drugs; biological materials; thermo-sensitive materials; etc.
Many different categories of goods are ordered and delivered via the USPS. Oftentimes, it is legal for a purchaser to buy certain categories of goods and illegal for the purchaser to buy other categories of goods. For instance, each of the components of a submachine may be legally purchased by an ordinary citizen without a license, while the complete submachine gun may not be legally purchased by an ordinary citizen without a license. Heretofore, the USPS was unable to determine when people were purchasing goods from one shipper that may be combined with other goods that were purchased from different shippers to produce illegal goods.
Soon after the Sep. 11,2001, terrorist attack on the United States, someone and/or a group of people has been adding harmful biological agents to the mail. The addition of harmful biological agents to the mail submitted to the USPS has caused the death of some people and necessitated the closure of some postal services, other government office buildings, and some businesses. Thus, there is an urgent need for the USPS to be aware of the contents of mail.
This invention overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art by utilizing a method that enables the USPS to be aware of the contents of mail and the identity of the party who licensed the postal meter that paid for the mailing. The foregoing is accomplished by placing human-readable postal meter indicia on the mail that contains information that uniquely identifies the mail and the licensee of the meter in addition to incorporating a radio frequency identification tag on the mail that identifies the contents of the mail and the information that uniquely identifies the mail. Additional security will be obtained by knowing the identity of the mailer and the contents of the mailing. The radio frequency tags may be remotely read, enabling the USPS to be aware of the contents of the mail permitting different content mail to be handled differently.
An additional advantage of this invention is that the USPS may be able to determine when individuals are purchasing goods from one shipper that are combined with other goods that were purchased from a different shipper to produce illegal goods. The USPS may accomplish the foregoing by keeping track of the categories of goods that are sent to individuals or groups of individuals and determining if a suspicious pattern is present that requires further investigation. For instance, a pattern of purchasing certain types of goods or of goods that have dual usage may indicate that an investigation is in order.